I often see people talk about how Season 8 is so bad as far as talent goes, and it always gets talked about as the least talented season in the show's history. I just struggle to see how that can be when we have Season 3. In a season with 12 chefs, legitimately half of them were terrible. 50% of the chefs in season 3, meaning Tiffany, Eddie, Aaron, Joanna, Vinnie, and Melissa, were awful.

Season 8 had 16 chefs, and while we can point out some bad chefs, we can point out chefs like Louis who arguably got booted way too early. Antonia was a medical evac, Curtis got screwed deliberately by being put on the sushi station, Emily was a space cadet, Melissa was mistake-prone, and Raj was Raj.

The remaining chefs in season 8 at least showed some flashes of being decent. I don't think the same can be said for Season 3. Season 3's black jackets boast one of the worst runners-up in Bonnie, a third-place finisher who took spaghetti from the trash and rinsed it, and Spaghetti Josh.

Frankly, if Rock had been up against a better group of chefs, I don't think he wins the competition. I don't believe Rock wins season 8, but I believe Nona or Russell could win season 3.